Chelsea became the first club in history to win all the available European Cup trophies after they beat Real Betis in the Conference League on May 28.

The Blues were pegged back by the Spanish side in he first half with Moroccan winger Abde Ezzalzouli scoring inside 10 minutes at the Tarczyński arena in Wroclaw.

Enzo Maresca's side, however, found their footing in the second half, scoring four goals to blow Betis away and win the first trophy under the new ownership.

The win guaranteed a strong end to the season as it came just a few days after they had secured a return to the Champions League. Chelsea beat Nottingham Forest on the final day of the Premier League season as they finished fourth in the Premier League standings.

However, a special UEFA rule could see the West Londoners snub a return to the Champions League and play in the Europa League instead.

As already mentioned, Chelsea qualified for the Champions League by finishing in the top five in the Premier League, but after winning the Conference League, they have also now qualified for next season's Europa League.

It goes without saying that Chelsea would prefer to play in the Champions League, but they have the flexibility to choose thanks to the UEFA rule.

The rule primarily exists to cover teams in the lower-ranked leagues who often start their path to the Champions League in the playoff rounds.

Such teams are never guaranteed they will play in the Champions League and rather than take the gamble, they are given the option of directly dropping into the competition below that they have equally qualified for.

"It's to cover a team from one of Europe's lower-ranked leagues winning the Conference League. If they take up their domestic UCL place in the qualifying rounds, they wouldn't be guaranteed to play in the UEL," explains ESPN's Dale Johnson.

If they feel making the UCL league phase through qualifying is tough, they can opt to take the automatic place in the UEL league phase earned by winning the Conference League."

Chelsea will have no qualms about playing in the Champions League and are set to be in Pot 1 when the draw happens later this year.

The initial fears were that the Blues could be barred from playing in the Champions League due to UEFA rules on multi-club ownership. The same company that owns Chelsea, BlueCo, owns Frenchclub Strasbourg.

The multiclub ownership rules dictate that two teams that are owned by the same person or entity cannot be allowed to play in the same competition to promote fair play.

BlueCo had already started negotiations with UEFA on how to address the situation, but it was rendered moot after Strasbourg failed to qualify for the Champions League.

However, Chelsea are still not out of the woods yet as they could face sanctions over their spending. If found guilty, they could pay a fine and walk away, but in extreme circumstances, they could get a ban from European football.

In a related report, Romeo Lavia missed a medal after Chelsea won the Conference League.

The midfielder wasn't included in the official team list and thus didn't step on the podium with his teammates to get a medal.

The Belgian can, however, be recognised by the club behind the scenes as they will have 50 medals to distribute.

Source: TUKO.co.ke